


The Dinner (They'll Never Forget)

by ruibin (angsthao)



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amnesia, Blogging, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Food, Friendship, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teenagers, Video, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-05-25 09:25:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14974181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angsthao/pseuds/ruibin
Summary: You Zhangjing and Fan Chengcheng run a YouTube channel and grant two of their subscribers free dinner as reward for recently hitting one million subscribers.Lin Yanjun and Huang Minghao, two close friends and avid subscribers of their channel, don’t miss this chance.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chengcheng and Zhangjing announce their free dinner treat to their YouTube subscribers. Minghao and Yanjun participate in hopes that they'll get chosen, to which they were (by Zhangjing begging Chengcheng to pick Yanjun's entry, who was Zhangjing's childhood crush).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I did it! I've been wanting to write this AU for a while, but I've been busy around last week so I only managed to fill in the first chapter by today. I hope you give this AU a shot and support it. Kudos and comments are very well appreciated!
> 
> Also, I put a target number of chapters so I don't stray too far from what I want to write. I might extend it if I feel the need to (or if I feel adding bonus chapters too).
> 
> Here's my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ruwuibins) if you want to talk to me there! :D
> 
> (Chengcheng and Zhangjing's channel is styled as _You/r Fan Eats_ , I type it without the slash if they're the ones speaking (in their vlogs).)

_Hello, it’s us again! I am You Zhangjing (and I am Fan Chengcheng), and you’re watching Your Fan Eats!_

 

“Yanjun, when are you coming home,” Minghao asks on his phone while he settles down in his favorite bean bag. “Zhangjing and Chengcheng uploaded a new video in their channel!”

 _“I know, my YouTube app notified me. I was about to watch it when you suddenly called,”_ Yanjun, the guy on the phone, answers a little bit irritably.

“Oh, okay! But you're coming home soon, right? Do you have dinner with you?”

_“Yes, I bought dinner before coming home. You know that I never trust ourselves in the kitchen, right?”_

Minghao chuckles. “Okay then, I'll see you when you get home. Be careful!”

Minghao ends the phone call when he hears Yanjun groan back, saying that he'll be careful on road. He then places his laptop on his lap and plays the video he paused moments ago.

 

_So before we head in to our food vlog, we’re bringing in some good news to everyone! (We can’t believe this, really.) We hit one million subscribers this morning! (One million foodies, baby!) We’ve been notified by some of our fans with some shots of our video channel, and when we looked at it we really reached a million! (We’re so happy guys, really. Thank you so much for all the love and support you’ve been giving us since day one. Without you guys, we won’t reach a million foodies!) Really, thank you guys. We can’t stress enough how much we’re thankful, so with that I hope this next thing we’re telling you will make you foodies really happy!_

_We’ve been planning to do this for a while now (actually, right when we got 500,000 subscribers), but both of us missed that mark since our subscribers have rapidly increased since last year. Luckily, we’ve reached the mark and we have some dates to spare so we’re planning to have a free dinner with you guys!_

 

“Minghao, I'm home—”

“Shh, they're saying something about free dinner,” Minghao says without facing Yanjun.

“Free dinner? Are you watching _‘You/r Fan Eats’_?” Yanjun asks as he approaches Minghao who is immersed in watching the video.

“Yes, it’s the new vlog,” Minghao answers.

 

_We're doing this dinner to express our gratitude to our foodies for subscribing to our channel! We want to thank everyone who has been with us, whether you're here from the start or you just stumbled upon our recent videos. (Really, thank you guys. If not for you, we wouldn't be doing this free dinner!) In addition, this free dinner will be uploaded as part of our main series!_

_(So how are we going to do this free dinner, Zhangjing?) Okay, the mechanics are simple. Continue this sentence: Your Fan Eats is… and comment down below your answer together with your Twitter or Instagram ID! (We’ll be personally reading you answers, and we’ll also be the ones to notify you if you have won through our official accounts.) Submission of entries is until 15th of June, 11:59PM Chinese Standard Time! Only one submission per Twitter and Instagram ID, and you can have lengthy answers as well (we'll read them fully!)._

_FAQs are in our description box under this video. And if you have more inquiries, feel free to message us on our official e-mail: yourfaneats@mail.com._

_We'll reveal the winner and their answers once they confirm their IDs within 24 hours after we've messaged them, otherwise we'll give other people a chance!_

_We’re excited to have a meal with you guys and learn more about you, but for now let’s go through our food vlog for today! We’ve recently visited a…_

 

Yanjun has dressed himself in his home clothes and sat beside Minghao, who is still immersed watching the vlog. “You want food?” He asks, to which the younger shakes his head. “I’ll eat after watching this,” Minghao adds.

Yanjun nods and watches the vlog with him. He hasn’t finished watching the vlog since he stopped halfway when he was nearing their apartment.

Yanjun starts to think his answers for the free dinner chance. He has been a fan of the channel way before Zhangjing and Chengcheng started to be famous. In fact, Minghao is the reason why he is watching their series. If it isn’t for _‘You/r Fan Eats’_ , he wouldn’t have gotten closer to Minghao at all.

He remembers the first time Minghao moved into their old apartment. There were five or six of them residing that time, and Minghao was the newest and youngest housemate they had.

 

 _“Hello, I’m Huang Minghao. I’m young, like literally young, so please take care of me,” Minghao introduces himself to Yanjun as soon as he steps in the apartment he’s going to live in for a few months_ — _years rather._

_“Aren’t you too young to live in an apartment with guys a few years older than you?” Yanjun straightforwardly asks the newbie._

_Minghao stutters. “W-well, I am. My new school is far from my residence, so my parents decided me to make me move into an apartment near my school.”_

_Yanjun smiles and pats his head. “The landlady isn’t here yet for some reason, so stay here and make yourself comfortable. I’ll prepare some snacks for you at the kitchen, but call me if you need anything.”_

_Minghao hesitates but goes through. “What’s your name?”_

_Yanjun chuckles. “I forgot to introduce myself, sorry for that. I’m Lin Yanjun, one of your housemates.”_

_“Nice to meet you, Yanjun.”_

_He hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Minghao after their first conversation due to their different schedules of classes. Minghao goes out earlier than Yanjun, while Yanjun comes home later than Justin. They got busy not only with their academics but also with their organizations and extracurricular activities._

_That changed when Yanjun caught Minghao watching a YouTube video one time. Both of them didn’t have classes, so they stayed inside their apartment and did their own things. Yanjun had nothing to do, so he decided to talk with Minghao more._

_“What are you watching?” Yanjun asks as he tries to look at the video Minghao was watching._

_“Your Fan Eats? Or is it You Fan Eats? It’s a series of food vlogs from a food channel I stumbled upon search,” Minghao explains._

_Yanjun nods. “Can I watch with you then?”_

_“Of course!” Minghao answers excitedly as he shifts his seat to give Yanjun a spot beside him._

_‘You/r Fan Eats’ was relatively a short series back then because they were new, so Yanjun and Minghao finished the series easily. They shared how much they’re excited to see more of Chengcheng and Zhangjing’s food adventures because they both like food and they both like the content the two vloggers have been releasing thus far._

_Eventually, both of them talked things other than ‘You/r Fan Eats’ which led them to get closer with each other. Yanjun treated Minghao as his younger brother, while the younger treats him as his older brother. Yanjun helped Minghao adjust with the household rules (and chores) and sometimes helped him with his difficult assignments. When Minghao would miss his family, Yanjun would be there to comfort him and make him feel better._

_When Minghao graduated high school, they decided to move out to a new apartment which was near to Minghao’s university and Yanjun’s workplace (they had consent from their parents before doing so). They were happy to finally have some space for their own._

 

“Yanjun, are you even watching?” Minghao asks him, pausing the video.

“O-oh, sorry. I was thinking of an answer for the free dinner,” Yanjun answers.

Minghao chuckles. “That quick? Man, I really want to have dinner with them! I can’t wait to see Zhangjing and Chengcheng eat as if there’s no tomorrow.” Minghao squeals as he expresses his excitement for the free dinner. “Also, we can get cooking tips from them! It's time that we stop having takeout and start cooking for ourselves!”

“I agree, we’ve been losing so much money from all the takeout we’ve been buying since we moved!” Yanjun tells in between laughters.

“Now that I think about it, we’ve grown together with the channel and I think that’s beautiful,” Minghao shifts the mood as he says that. “We’ll join the contest and get that dinner, right?”

Yanjun smiles. “Right.”

 

* * *

 

“This is it,” Chengcheng says as he sits in his favorite bean bag. “It’s time we finally read everyone’s entries. I’m excited to read everyone’s thoughts, how about you?”

Zhangjing lays the tray with food on the table in front of them and sits on the bean bag beside Chengcheng’s. “I’m excited too actually. I can’t wait to see everyone’s messages about our channel!”

“Can we not rush this in a day, though? I don’t think we can handle a large amount of comments in one day?” Chengcheng innocently asks.

Zhangjing chuckles. “Of course, idiot! I’m sure there are thousands of subscribers who want to have dinner with us. I can’t even read long messages, how much more this one?”

“Okay, we’ll take this slowly then.”

Two days have passed since June 15, the deadline of entries for their free dinner, and the two YouTubers are ready to read messages from their fans (or foodies as Chengcheng calls them).

“How do we do this, by recent entries or number of upvotes?” Chengcheng asks, skimming the comments of their recent vlog.

“I say we should go by recent entries. There might be nice answers that don’t have a lot of upvotes, and also to be fair with everyone who sent in their answers,” Zhangjing answers, doing the same. “Also, can we read comments separately then send screenshots of comments that touch our hearts? I feel like that would save time at least,” he adds.

Chengcheng agrees to Zhangjing’s suggestion and starts reading. The most recent ones say that the viewers feel bad that they have missed the opportunity and hope that another round of free dinner comes soon. They feel bad that some viewers have missed the deadline, however they aren’t sure if they’ll be able to handle another free dinner so they take note of those comments just in case they can do another one.

After reading those comments, they start seeing actual entries for the dinner. Some entries are witty while some are emotional. Zhangjing and Chengcheng have been sharing a couple of entries that caught their attention, also sharing their thoughts along.

They’ve read around a quarter of their total comments after almost three hours, so they decide to take a break and eat the food Zhangjing has prepared earlier.

“You know what, there’s this one comment that caught my attention,” Chengcheng says as he eats his sandwich. “It says that they built their friendship with someone through our channel. And you know what’s touching? They’ve been avid supporters of our channel since the beginning. It reminds me of how we became friends.”

“Wait, is this the one that says _‘You/r Fan Eats is friendship formed with someone I didn’t expect I’ll be close with’_? The entry by Minghao Huang?” Zhangjing asks after he sips from his orange juice. Chengcheng nods. “I’ve read it, it does remind me of our friendship too.”

“To think of it, we’ve been more than YouTubers who share the same channel and run the same vlog. You know, we’ve been friends and brothers too as we filmed more vlogs,” Chengcheng says, reminiscing how he got closer to Zhangjing because of their channel.

“Oh dear, I remember. We really started from scratch, and here we are.”

 

_Zhangjing wanted to film himself eat happily, so he looked for a food stall at the mall with good food. He tried to look at the food court, but it was so packed with people. He didn’t want his voice to be overshadowed by the people near him, so he decided to leave the food court and find a food stall that will allow him to film himself eating._

_He walked for a little longer and found a shabu-shabu place that was almost empty. The only customer that was there was a guy who was also filming himself eat his meal._

_‘Should I go and talk to him if we can collaborate?’ Zhangjing asks himself._

_He drove his nervousness away and headed inside the shabu-shabu place. The guy filming looked at him, specifically to the GoPro he was holding._

_“Are you going to film yourself eat?” The guy asks him. Zhangjing gives him a confused face. The guy chuckles. “Oh, I’m Fan Chengcheng. I want to start up my own food channel, so I decided to film myself eating. Are you starting up your channel too?”_

_Zhangjing scratches the back of his head. “Uh, I was actually going to ask you if we could collaborate since I was going to film myself. I’m You Zhangjing by the way.”_

_Chengcheng, the guy filming, made space for Zhangjing to sit beside him. “That’s great,” he happily says. “It’s a little lonely to film food videos alone without anyone to talk to.”_

_“That’s great! We could create a channel together,” Zhangjing got excited that he says his idea to Chengcheng without hesitation. “I mean, if you don’t mind of course,” he follows up to mask the awkwardness._

_Chengcheng laughs. “You seem to be a fun person,” he says after calming down. “We can talk about it while we film.”_

_“Wait, really?” Zhangjing asks in shock. “You’re not joking?”_

_“Yup, I’m legit serious! And I can’t wait to work with you.”_

_Zhangjing sits beside Chengcheng immediately. They both set up their cameras properly and started filming. They talked about how they stumbled upon each other and suddenly agreed to film their first video together. They also ask questions about themselves, why they want to make a channel, and the likes. They also talked about how they’ll pull off the content they’ll be providing, all of that while they finish the food Chengcheng has gotten beforehand. They had their second round and continued to ramble almost everything under the sun._

_That was their first video, but that didn’t make it to the cut. The first video they uploaded on their channel was a vlog where they both ate at an Italian restaurant in the same mall they filmed their very first video together._

_They wanted to keep it as a little secret to themselves, so (obviously) they lied when talked about how they first met. They told the internet that they became friends at a food convention, when in fact the first time both of them went to a food convention was when they were invited by the organizers themselves._

_Along with that little secret were many more secrets they’ve told each other, from Chengcheng’s rebellious high school years, to Zhangjing’s childhood crush that he never met again. The more they filmed together, the more they got to know each other and became closer._

 

“Wait, am I seeing things?” Chengcheng says as he goes back to read comments. “Yanjun Lin? Isn’t this your childhood crush?”

Zhangjing almost drops his phone upon hearing the name. “What? Y-Yanjun?”

“Yeah, do you want to double check?” Chengcheng asks as he passes his phone to Zhangjing so he could see Yanjun’s comment.

Zhangjing skimmed Yanjun’s comment to find his SNS accounts and went through his instagram to check if it was really him and Chengcheng wasn’t just seeing things.

And boy, Chengcheng was right.

“Oh my gosh,” Zhangjing says as he scrolls Yanjun’s feed. “It’s actually him! Chengcheng, what should I do?”

Zhangjing is starting to hyperventilate while Chengcheng tries to calm him down. It has been years since Zhangjing last saw Yanjun, so he can’t believe that his childhood crush is actually a subscriber of his channel.

“Chengcheng, can we just drag Yanjun to the dinner? Please?” Zhangjing begs.

Chengcheng laughs loudly. “Zhangjing, are you really doing that? You can contact him separately if you want to talk to him.”

“I have no idea if he still remembers me or not!” Zhangjing says. “I mean, it’s been years now. He probably forgot about me. But I really want to meet him!”

Chengcheng sighs. “If his comment is good, we’ll message him and declare him as _‘winner’_ if he confirms his identity. Otherwise, you have to man up and ask him if both of you could meet.”

Zhangjing sighs in relief. “Okay, I can manage with that. Hopefully his comment is good enough for your taste.”

“You won’t even bother reading his message?” Chengcheng asks. “I can’t believe this, you’re whipped for him.”

“Fine, I’m reading it.”

Both of them read Yanjun’s comment and notice the same thing: his comment was the same as Minghao’s with regards to context, even including Minghao’s name at some point (Yanjun tells the YouTubers that if ever they pick Yanjun, they should pick Minghao too).

“In all honesty, I think this is destiny,” Zhangjing says after reading Yanjun’s comment. “Look, we first loved Minghao’s comment about his friendship with someone, which reminded us of our own friendship. Now, we stumble upon Yanjun’s comment, my childhood crush that you know, only to find out that he and Minghao are friends.”

“So, the point is?” Chengcheng asks.

“Let’s drag both of them to dinner. I mean let’s have them as winners. Besides, they’re located around our place too. It’s less hassle for us to set dates and places,” Zhangjing suggests.

Chengcheng chuckles. “The things you do for your childhood crush, I can’t believe I’m getting dragged to this.”

“Come on, you can check out Minghao. It’s time you have some love life!”

“Oh my gosh, please no,” Chengcheng says almost immediately.

“Yes please! I mean, be friends with Minghao. Then if you find him cute or anything you can start from there. If you don’t, you can remain as friends,” Zhangjing suggests. “I just want you to be happy, you know. You’ve been pushing yourself with your academics and the channel, and I just want you to life your life more.”

Chengcheng sighs. “Okay, for you I’ll do this. Besides, I like Yanjun’s comment too.”

Zhangjing pats him on the shoulder. “Do this for yourself, not for me. But this is settled already, okay? Yanjun and Minghao?”

“Yanjun and Minghao it is.”

 

* * *

 

_1 new notification: @yourfaneats have sent you a private message._

 

“Yanjun!” Minghao calls the older guy who’s in his room. “ _‘You/r Fan Eats’_ messaged me!”

Yanjun comes out of the room right right when he heard Minghao say _‘You/r Fan Eats’_. “What for?” He asks, approaching Minghao.

“ _‘You/r Fan Eats’_ messaged me,” Minghao repeats once more and shows his phone notification to Yanjun. “I’m so excited and scared at the same time. Do you think this is about the free dinner? Did you receive anything from them?”

Yanjun checks his phone. “I haven’t received anything from them.”

“I’m nervous, what if I’m the only one who gets dinner and you don’t?” Minghao worriedly asks.

Yanjun smiles, a hint of sadness slowly showing on his face. “It’s okay, you still get to have dinner with them. You can tell me what happens, you know? You can also relay my messages for them if I don’t get to have dinner with them.”

Minghao sighs. “Okay, I’ll read the message now,” he says as he opens @yourfaneats’ message on his Instagram.

 

_Hello, it’s Zhangjing here! I’m sending this message to you to confirm that you are one of the winners for our free dinner treat! Let me know as soon as possible if you’re up for it, and your contact details so we can talk about this easier!_

_Chengcheng and I hope to see you then!_

_(PS. I feel like Chengcheng will forget to message as soon as possible, so please let your friend Yanjun know that he’s the other winner. Cheers to you both!)_

 

“Oh my gosh, Yanjun!” Minghao screams. “We’re the winners! We’re going to have free dinner with Chengcheng and Zhangjing!”

“What, you’re not joking?” Yanjun asks in disbelief. “Are you sure that I’ve won too?”

“Yes, we’re both the winners,” Minghao answers in between of squeals.

‘How come I don’t receive anything from them?” Yanjun asks again, starting to get skeptical.

Minghao finally calms down and shows him the message. “Chengcheng’s going to message you soon, Zhangjing says.”

Right after Minghao says that, Yanjun receives a notification saying that @yourfaneats have messaged him. He checks the message, and Zhangjing was right. They both win the free dinner sponsored by Chengcheng and Zhangjing, the YouTubers they have been a fan of for quite some time now.

“OH MY GOD,” they both freak out. “WE’RE GETTING FREE DINNER! WE’RE HAVING DINNER WITH ZHANGJING AND CHENGCHENG!”

They both jump out of excitement, as if tomorrow doesn’t exist anymore. They can’t believe that their two favorite YouTubers have chosen them to have dinner with. They hug each other and share how much they’re blessed to have this opportunity. They continue to express their overwhelming emotions until they realize that they need to verify their details to the YouTubers for the dinner to push through.

“This still feels unreal,” Minghao says after sending in his contact to the official account. “I don’t think I can sleep properly from now on, knowing that we’ll have a dinner with them.”

“Man, me too,” Yanjun says back. “I’m so excited to meet them.”

“I’m glad we joined.”

“I’m glad we got to win too.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two YouTubers and their guests finally have dinner. Many things happen though: Minghao getting surprised that Chengcheng studies in the same college he studies in, Zhangjing talking about Café Banana out of the blue, Chengcheng snapping and laughing at the same night, the YouTubers getting soft over their new found friends. They all had fun with the dinner, however Yanjun started to have a headache when he gets home, followed by different scenes flashing on his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make the dinner as long as it could be, I hope you guys will like it! Kudos and comments are very well appreciated too! (And yes, I wrote this in a whole day. What about it?)
> 
> Here's my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ruwuibins) if you want to talk about the fic with me!

****“Yanjun! Can you help me here?”

Yanjun, who just came out from the shower, heads to Minghao’s room as soon as he called him. He sees Minghao in his bathrobe and a couple of clothes on top of his bed. “You’re not dressed yet?” He asks.

“I need help, I can’t decide which clothes I should wear,” Minghao tells him, faintly showing a hint of desperation. “I want to look good when we meet them later.”

Yanjun sighs. “Minghao, you’ll look good whatever you wear. I don’t think Chengcheng and Zhangjing will mind.”

“But they told us to dress nicely,” Minghao insists.

Yanjun shakes his head. “Of course, we have to dress nicely. They’re filming this for their vlog, right? It doesn’t mean we have to dress in suits or something. We just need to dress up properly.”

“Just help me out,” Minghao irritably says. “Look, you’re not even dressed—”

“You called me right when I was about to dress up,” Yanjun cuts him.

Minghao sighs. “Fine, I’m sorry. I just wanted to look really good in front of Zhangjing and Chengcheng. I don’t think we’ll meet each other after this.”

Yanjun smiles. “Me too, Minghao. I can’t let this opportunity be ruined either. Come on, I’ll help you out with your clothes. We still less than an hour before we leave.”

“Thanks a lot, Yanjun.”

Yanjun stands up from Minghao’s bed and examines the clothes Minghao has picked up a while ago. He decides that Minghao should wear a [black long-sleeved printed shirt and casual jeans with a white belt as accessory](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f2/09/dc/f209dcdd49d49ac18b8cc25377ca781b.jpg). After helping out Minghao, he goes to his own room to pick out his outfit for the night. He chooses a [white t-shirt and a denim outerwear for his top and black jeans and gray belt for his bottom](https://pm1.narvii.com/6798/154527b0fff692f95d0da6b89b2616d6b26064dev2_hq.jpg). He also adds on a beret for the finishing touch.

They both go out of their rooms with a few minutes to spare for tidying their apartment before leaving.

“I’m so nervous,” Minghao blurts out. “What if they won’t like us?”

“I think they’ll help us out with regards to their vlog,” Yanjun answers after making sure their kitchen is clean. “Let’s not be nervous and enjoy the night, alright? We’ll do fine, don’t worry.”

“I keep on thanking you, but I really mean it. I don’t think I’ll enjoy this dinner without you.”

Yanjun pats his head. “You’re being sentimental again. Come on, we might be late.”

 

* * *

 

“Are the cameras set?” Chengcheng asks after adjusting the GoPro near him.

“Yeah, I’m done setting them up,” Zhangjing answers, feeling restless. “Damn, I feel like backing out.”

“Well, who told me to pick Yanjun? Me?” Chengcheng teases back. “You could’ve chosen another person if you’re not ready to meet Yanjun, you know.”

Zhangjing sighs. “I don’t think I have another way to meet him except this one.”

“Exactly, so let’s push through with this. You’ve chosen him already, contacted him, and now we’re few minutes away before meeting him and his friend. Don’t back out, he knows you’re coming,” Chengcheng says rather seriously.

 

_1 new notification: @lin_yanjun have sent you a private message._

_“Oh my gosh, Chengcheng! He replied quickly! I can’t believe this.” Zhangjing jumps out of his couch after reading the notification. “He sent me in their contact details and now we’re about to settle this dinner! He also sent us a picture for some reason, but he looks so cute, my gosh!”_

_“Zhangjing, could you please calm down?” Chengcheng says as soon as he reached the couch. “Come on, it’s just a message. I don’t think there’s any other deep meaning to that.”_

_“I can’t do this, I think I’m going to faint!”_

_“Zhangjing!” Chengcheng shouts. “Sometimes, I think I’m the older person here. Anyway, let me be the one to talk to him and his friends about the details if you can’t contain yourself. I’m afraid that he might back out if you keep on freaking out even on messages.”_

_Zhangjing snorts. “Fine, as long as I don’t ruin myself in front of him.”_

_True enough, Chengcheng handled all the talks smoothly. He was the one who talked to Yanjun and Minghao about the schedule of the dinner, to which the two didn’t decline. He threw in a little excitement to their small chats just so the atmosphere would be lighter the moment they all meet up. He also explains that Zhangjing was busy, but that was just a cover up for Zhangjing not being able to think coherently when Yanjun is in the conversation._

_“Thanks a lot for being the one to message them,” Zhangjing says the day before their dinner. “I’m sorry if that stressed you a lot.”_

_“It’s alright,” Chengcheng says. “It’s only online, anyway. I didn’t stress out as much.”_

_“Will you be alright when you meet them?” Zhangjing asks, concerned if Chengcheng is ready to meet new people other than him._

_“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me,” Chengcheng replies, but it feels like the last part made him worried more in the inside._

 

Chengcheng holds Zhangjing’s hands to calm him down. “I honestly want to back out too, but we’re in this together. We’ll be alright, okay? Let’s not back out and enjoy this dinner.”

Zhangjing chuckled. “I knew you’re nervous too. Still not ready to meet new people?”

Chengcheng nods and holds Zhangjing’s hands tighter. “I’ll be okay, I’m telling the truth this time. It wouldn’t hurt if I meet new people, right? Besides, you’re the one who told me to live my life fully. I guess it’s time for me to do that.”

“I’m glad that you’re slowly getting out of your shell. Now, let’s pull off this night together. Yanjun and Minghao might be coming soon.”

They review their rundown for their vlog: introduction about the place, introduction and talk with Yanjun and Minghao, first round with the most picked food items (because they are eating in an _eat all you can_ place). They decide to have their next few rounds without the camera rolling so they all could enjoy the dinner in private.

Soon enough, they see Minghao and Yanjun enter the place and approach the front desk. They can see Minghao getting excited while Yanjun looks pretty much normal.

“Do you think Yanjun remembers me?” Zhangjing asks one last time.

Chengcheng shakes his head. “Zhangjing, if he remembers you he would have talked to you the moment he first watched our videos.”

“Fine, I’ll act as if I don’t remember anything at all,” Zhangjing says after debating his subconsciousness.

“H-hello…”

Both vloggers look at the newcomers in front of their table. It is the two _winners_ of their free dinner, which means that they are about to start filming for their vlog.

“Oh my gosh, it is really you!” Minghao says excitedly as he’s seeing Santa Claus in flesh. “I’m so happy to see you! I’m Huang Minghao by the way!”

Yanjun chuckles at his friend. “Hello, I’m Lin Yanjun. I’m actually excited in the inside too.”

“Oh my gosh—”

They all look at Zhangjing who just spoke out of the blue. He laughs awkwardly, and soon after everyone laughs at him. Chengcheng motioned the two winners to sit in front of them for the briefing. Minghao is excited, asking them questions on how they film and edit their videos. Chengcheng slowly gets irritated, but he still manages to explain to Minghao about their filming and editing process.

Chengcheng continues his briefing about the flow of their vlog after answering Minghao’s questions, while Zhangjing beside him is secretly taking glances on Yanjun. He is double checking the guy beside Minghao, if he is actually the childhood crush he had. Yanjun’s facial features are slowly registering into Zhangjing’s mind, and soon enough Zhangjing’s mind verifies that the Yanjun in front of his is the Yanjun he fell in love with when he was young.

“Hey, are you alright?” Yanjun asks Zhangjing after noticing the latter staring at him for a while now.

Zhangjing seems to be out of the zone, so Chengcheng kicks him from under. He almost hits Chengcheng until he realizes that he’s with other people in their table. “Oh, sorry,” he apologizes. “I just remembered something. Anyway, let’s film now.”

Zhangjing shifts seats as Chengcheng signals Yanjun and Minghao to sit in between of them. After getting settled, Chengcheng presses the record button in all of the GoPros surrounding them, signalling that the filming is starting.

While the two vloggers talk, Yanjun and Minghao look at them. They notice how professional they are in terms of planning what to film and the actual filming itself. They aren’t sure about their dynamics off camera, but they feel that they’re friendly enough to talk to them. Well, not so much for Chengcheng because he seems strict. Hopefully, their impressions will chance once they stop filming.

Zhangjing and Chengcheng takes turns in talking about the place, from the ambience to the foods being served. After talking about the place, they call Yanjun and Minghao to introduce themselves. They also talk about how they became friends, to which Zhangjing says that their friendship is cute and that it reminds them of their old videos since Yanjun said that they _‘basically grew up along with [the] channel’_. They also express their feelings toward the dinner, telling that they’re excited to talk and eat with them as the night progresses.

After their talk, they take a break from filming and get their first round of food. The vloggers pick up the best sellers or the most picked ones, while the two guests pick the ones they like to eat. They continue to film, this time eating the food and giving their insights about it. They all give their honest thoughts: some of the food are tasty, some of the food seem bland, etc.

“Okay guys, we’re going to end this vlog and go get our second round! If you guys want to eat here, make sure to check out the description of this video for the complete address of ONER STREET, and we would like to thank Mr. Bu Fan for allowing us to film here,” Chengcheng says, starting to close the vlog they’re filming.

“If you like this vlog, give this video a thumbs up! If you would like to see more of us, hit the subscribe button and the bell button beside it to be notified instantly of our new videos. With that, we’ll see you again in the next blog!” Zhangjing closes the vlog, reaching for the main camera with his palm. After a few seconds, he reaches for the record button for the recording to stop. He does this to the other cameras near him but misses the one near Chengcheng’s, assuming that Chengcheng will be the one to press the record button for his camera.

Unfortunately, Chengcheng forgot he had his camera on his side, which means that the camera continues to record whatever is going to happen to their dinner tonight.

“So, you really grew up with the channel?” Zhangjing asks to break the ice.

“Well, yeah,” Minghao answers him. “We started watching when I was around high school.”

“I remember how Minghao was small back then. He was really thin and cute, but he’s all grown up now,” Yanjun adds.

“No way,” Zhangjing expresses his disbelief. “If you started watching in high school, then I assume that you’re now a college student?”

“Yup, I study at Yuehua International College,” Minghao answers. “I’m a freshman who majors in Broadcasting.”

“Yuehua, Broadcasting? Chengcheng, aren’t you a Broadcasting major at Yuehua?” Zhangjing asks to the shocked Chengcheng.

Chengcheng shyly smiles. “Yes, I major in Broadcasting. I’m actually a freshman too.”

“OH MY GOSH, why don’t I see you in campus? Did you attend the freshman events?” Minghao asks, still processing the fact that Chengcheng studies in the same college as him.

“I didn’t attend any of the events. I don’t stay in the campus for long either,” Chengcheng nonchalantly answers.

“But why? I mean the events were enjoyable! Like the freshman acquaintance night was lit and—”

“So what if they’re enjoyable?” Chengcheng snaps.

Minghao lowers his head. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you snap. I was just excited that my favorite YouTuber studies in the same college as mine.”

“I apologize in behalf Chengcheng,” Zhangjing butts in. “He’s not really used to meeting new people.”

“No, it’s okay. I was the one who pushed the conversation. I’m still sorry, Chengcheng,” Minghao apologizes one more.

“Sorry, I snapped. Like Zhangjing said, I’m not exactly most comfortable when meeting new people,” Chengcheng repeats what Zhanging said. “Anyway, let’s just move on. If you’re in college, is Yanjun working already?”

“Yeah, I work at a call center agency few streets away from Minghao’s college,” Yanjun starts talking. “I initially had night shifts but my body couldn’t handle it so I requested from my boss if I could take on the morning shifts instead.”

“So you work at IQIYI Agency? The big green and white building near Café Banana?”

“Yeah, I work there. I haven’t visited Café Banana yet, though,” Yanjun shares.

“What, for real?” Chengcheng asks. “But that’s Zhangjing’s restaurant!” Chengcheng receives a kick from underneath the table after saying that.

“We agreed not to talk about that, right?” Zhangjing scares Chengcheng. “Yes, I own Café Banana. Well, it’s a partnership between my friend. He’s the guy you’ll usually see there, although I come there too sometimes,” Zhangjing shares.

“I should go there soon,” Yanjun says. “I believe your food there will be delicious!”

“Let me know so I can treat you there,” Zhangjing blurts out, forgetting his _thing_ with Yanjun. They all look at Zhangjing suspiciously. “I mean, I’m the owner! I should promote my café well!”

“Shouldn’t you guys film there since it’s Zhangjing’s café?” Minghao asks.

“We’ll film one of these days,” Chengcheng shares. “We just have to settle a few things with Chaoze, right?” Zhangjing nods at Chengcheng.

Chengcheng suddenly thinks of doing something playful. “Do you guys remember any of your childhood days?”

Minghao laughs. “This is out of the blue! Why do you ask?”

Yanjun answers shyly, “I don’t remember much of my childhood. I had a car accident that lead to head injury, in short I suffer from amnesia.”

Zhangjing freezes for a millisecond, then processed on kicking Chengcheng underneath. “You know mine already,” he says, trying to deceive the two guests that nothing happened.

Chengcheng only chuckles. “I don’t know, I’m just trying to make the conversation work.”

“You know, we can continue eating,” Yanjun states. “We’ve gotten our second round but no one dared to touch their food.”

They all laugh, realizing that they’ve talked without eating. With that, they proceed to eat. They have gotten food they haven’t eaten from the first round, and they say that the food is really tasty. It makes them want to come back to ONER STREET the next time they decide to feast. They also play a couple of games in between eating. In fact, they’re the only table that’s really noisy, but it doesn’t matter because they’re eating in a private room.

“Oh right, I remember to ask this to you,” Minghao says as soon as he sits down after getting their third round of food. “Do you guys have any cooking tips? We’ve been living with takeout for years now, and we’re really a mess in the kitchen so we don’t come their often except when we need to wash the dishes.”

Chengcheng laughs, a lot louder this time. It’s the first time he laughs freely since… forever? Zhangjing sees this and secretly takes photos of him. Yanjun and Minghao laugh along with him.

“My gosh, it’s been a while since I last laughed that hard,” Chengcheng says after settling down. “Sorry, I was just surprised. I didn’t expect that question coming.”

“To answer your inquiry, we’re not the best at cooking either. I’m an expert when it comes to baking, but not on cooking. We can cook, but we prefer having takeout more. We’re just not the best at the kitchen, sorry,” Zhangjing admits. “But if you guys want more takeout options, we can recommend you some places!”

Minghao and Yanjun sigh. _They thought they were going to learn a thing or two about cooking._

“You know, we don’t really need expert-level tips,” Yanjun says. “We just want tips on how to cook, really. We’re tired of takeout, so we want to start cooking our own food.”

“We can come to your place if you like,” Zhangjing blurts once again. “We can help you with basic cooking, if that’s what you need.”

 _Chengcheng is_ **_this_ ** _close to hitting Zhangjing and his impromptu plans._

“Are you sure? I mean, you might be busy too. We just need tips, really. No need for visiting us,” Yanjun insists.

“Yeah, it’s okay if you don’t come to our place,” Minghao adds on. “Besides, I don’t think we’re close enough for visits or anything.”

“You’re the first people we’ve opened up ourselves with,” Chengcheng says truthfully. “I mean, we’ve never opened up ourselves more than we do now when we meet our fellow YouTubers. There’s always a boundary of some sort we unconsciously build, but surprisingly we broke them with you.”

“Chengcheng’s right,” Zhangjing agrees. “He just snapped at you a while ago, remember? But look, he laughed like a fool a while ago. How do I say this… he’s aloof. He doesn’t really talk to other people, which explains why he didn’t attend to Yuehua’s freshman events. For you to make him laugh like this, I think there’s something special in you.”

“Shut it, oh my gosh,” Minghao shyly replies. “We’re honored, really. I can’t believe I made Chengcheng laugh his ass off. Again, we just wanted tips. We never really expected you guys to ask if you can come to our place. We’re shocked and honored at the same time.”

“But if you guys insist, then we can set up dates when we’re free and go from them,” Yanjun suggests. “Again, we’re really honored.”

“That’s great! We can make a group chat or something, just let me know your IDs,” Zhangjing says while grabbing his phone from his pocket. “I can’t wait to meet you guys again, and I’m really glad that the dinner went well with you.”

“I’m also glad you’re the ones we chose,” Chengcheng adds.

“Well, we’re glad to make you happy, and we’re also glad that we joined your contest,” Yanjun says. “Now, can we eat again? The place is going to close soon.”

They resume eating, making sure to finish the food they got from the pantry a while ago. Since it is getting late, they decide to call it a day and call the waiter for their bill. After settling everything, they once again thank Mr. Bu Fan, who was at the front desk, for letting them film in his place.

“Do you guys need a ride? We can bring you to your place, Zhangjing can drive,” Chengcheng asks them.

“Oh, it’s okay. Yanjun can drive,” Minghao tells him. “Anyway, thank you for today. I can’t wait to meet you guys again, if ever.”

“We’ll meet again, that’s a promise,” Chengcheng says. “Get home safely!”

 

* * *

 

“You know, I’m still surprised at how we did earlier,” Chengcheng says while scrolling through his phone. “I didn’t expect to snap and guffaw earlier. I also didn’t expect me telling them they’ve broken our walls, but they really did. I don’t know what charm they have but they’re special, you know.”

Zhangjing chuckles. “I didn’t expect you either. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen earlier. I just thought that we’ll have small talk with them, then eat for the rest of the night. It seems the opposite actually, we talked more than we ate.”

“I feel like we were able to be ourselves more earlier was because Yanjun was your childhood crush,” Chengcheng teases him. _(The truth is, Minghao is cute. Chengcheng finds Minghao cute.)_ “I’m also surprised you blurted out so many things even if Yanjun was there. Weren’t you scared that he might stay away from you if he knew?”

Zhangjing parks his car in front of their gate. “I know you asked the question about their childhood for me, and I don’t know if I should be thankful or not. To be honest, I’m actually sad that he doesn’t remember anything about his childhood.”

“You know, you can ask him when you meet again, right?” Chengcheng suggests. “I don’t know how you’ll do it, but you probably can ask him casually about it. I’m not sure if being straightforward works for him, sorry.”

Zhangjing smiles. “It’s okay. I think I can handle this situation.”

Chengcheng snorted. “One of these days, I’m sure you’ll need me to help you with him.”

“And maybe you also need help with Minghao,” Zhangjing teases back.

“What? No!”

“For Minghao to make you snap and laugh at the same time, I think that guy has something special in him.”

Instead of replying back, Chengcheng just shakes his head. “Come on, I’m getting sleepy already.”

“You’re just dodging the topic, I know you’re starting to like Minghao as a friend,” Zhangjing says while he closes the car door.

 

* * *

 

“Ah, today was a great day!” Minghao says the moment they step back to their apartment. “It feels like a dream, dude! Can you believe it, we spend a couple of hours with our favorite YouTubers?”

“Can you please not talk for a while?” Yanjun asks, starting to feel sick. “My head is a whole mess now.”

Minghao rushes to him. “Yanjun, are you alright? Do you need painkillers or anything?”

Yanjun slowly walks to the nearest chair and sits. “No, it’s okay. I’ll sleep this off.”

“Are you sure? You seem like you’re suffering a lot.”

Yanjun tries to smile despite the pain he’s feeling. “It’s okay, you can go to sleep.”

Minghao motions Yanjun to stand up and escorts him to his room. Minghao leaves him after double checking if everything in his room is already set (air conditioner is on, dim lights, his bed already prepared for sleeping).

Yanjun is alone in his room. He lies down, hoping that the headache would stop. The opposite happens: his head aches more. He closes his eyes. Suddenly, snippets flashed to his mind.

_Two children: one was him, the other was blurred. They were both at the fields running as if there’s no tomorrow. They were hanging out at the playground on a bright sunny day._

If there is any hint as to who the other kid is, _the other kid’s smile_ flashed. There’s no face, but there was the kid’s smile almost heart-shaped smile.

Suddenly, the snippets stop flashing. His headache disappears.

_A thousand questions come to his mind._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minghao and Yanjun talk about the latter's headache. Yanjun spends his break at Café Banana and meets Zhangjing there. Minghao and Chengcheng spend time together at Chengcheng's hideout.
> 
> (Trigger warning for the chapter: family problems, mention of bullying)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, everyone !! sorry it took longer than expected, since i had other stuff to attend to aside from writing ^^
> 
> first of all, hAPPY 500 HITS !!! i didn't expect that a lot of people would be reading this, i hope that you guys like where we're going so far <3 also, thank you for the kudos and the comments~ i really appreciate those a lot, and i hope that you continue to shower this fic with those!!
> 
> second, 4.6k word vomit!!! i think this is the longest that i've written ever ?? i always write at around 1-2k words per chapter so i get really surprised that i write chapters here with 3k+ words ^^ i think i enjoyed the chengstin part more, you'll find out why when you read ;)
> 
> again, kudos and comments are very well appreciated so feel free to leave some after you read this chapter!!
> 
> i almost forgot- i might extend the supposedly 5 chapter length ,, i feel that the fic needs to be longer (but just a bit, who knows tbh) 
> 
> here's my [twitter](https://twitter.com/ruwuibins) if u wanna talk about the fic! ENJOY READING!!!! (s-sorry for the long intro)
> 
> (ps. _sender_ and _**receiver**_ for the text snippets!!)

Yanjun wakes up from his deep slumber, sun rays hitting on his face.

The last thing he remembers from yesterday is him staring at his ceiling, asking different questions all at once. _Where did those scenes come from? Why am I with another kid? Who is that kid?_ He never gets an answer, until he eventually falls asleep.

He comes back to his senses when he hears someone enter his room. It is Minghao who has a tray with him. He placed this tray with food on Yanjun’s bedside. “Are you okay now?” Minghao carefully asks. “I checked on you one last time before I slept and saw you sleeping peacefully.”

“I don’t know,” Yanjun answers truthfully. “Physically, I’m fine now. Mentally, I have no idea.”

“Why?”

Yanjun sighs and lies down again. “I had this headache, right? In the middle of the chaos, a couple of scenes flashed in my mind. Then suddenly, the headache stopped after the scenes stopped playing in my mind.”

“If you don’t mind, what were those scenes about?”

Yanjun gives him the details, even if the scenes for him were vague. “I don’t know why I’m there and why those scenes are being shown to me,” he adds. “I’ve been thinking of possible reasons on why those scenes appeared, but they don’t make sense to me.”

“You said you have amnesia last night, right?” Minghao clarifies. “I think it’s because your memories are coming back.”

“You think they are?” Yanjun asks, a little bit scared of the consequences.

“Yeah, maybe you met someone or something recently and that triggered your memories. I’m not one hundred percent sure though. It’s best if you go to a doctor and ask about it,” Minghao suggests.

“Thank you, for the suggestion and also for the food,” Yanjun replies. “You can go to your class now.”

Minghao chuckles. “Yanjun, it’s a Saturday today. I don’t have class.”

“Oh, I see.”

Yanjun and Minghao both fall silent for a while. Yanjun starts to eat his food, while Minghao adjusts the settings of Yanjun’s air conditioner. Minghao wants to talk about the dinner and let out his inner feelings since he wasn’t able to do it last night, but he doesn’t know if Yanjun is ready to talk about that.

“Sorry, I shut you up last night,” Yanjun apologizes. “I didn’t mean to burst your bubble about the dinner. In fact, I was really happy too. The headache just came in my way, and I couldn’t function properly because of that.”

“It’s okay,” Minghao says, coming back to Yanjun’s bed. “I understand. Besides, I don’t think I could function properly either if I had a headache. I still can’t get over the dinner though, it still feels like a dream.”

“I feel sad, I couldn’t talk about the dinner properly. I was really happy to be with them last night, you know. Seeing Zhangjing and Chengcheng eat alone makes me happy, so I still couldn’t believe that we managed to talk and play games with them,” Yanjun shares.

“Oh right, Chengcheng messaged me,” Minghao remembers. “He thanks us for making them feel comfortable during our dinner. He also anticipates the next time we’re meeting them, so he already gave me his free dates.”

Yanjun chuckles. “That quick?”

“Yeah, I actually told him that we pretty much have the same free dates since we both study at Yuehua. He’s cute, you know. He went off and typed in keyboard smash language just because he forgot we were both Yuehua students.”

“You like him?” Yanjun asks without batting an eyelash.

Minghao denies faster than the speed of light. “It’s not that _‘cute’_ cute. It’s just cute because like what they said last night, he’s aloof. I’m amused he has this soft side too.”

“You know, you can bond with him at Yuehua during your breaks,” Yanjun suggests. “He’s always alone, right? Don’t you think it’s nice if you accompany him sometimes? You know, to make him feel less lonely.”

“Are you telling me to make moves to him?” Minghao asks, rather surprised.

Yanjun shrugs. “You’re the one who termed it like that, not me. I was suggesting only so Chengcheng can have one more friend aside from Zhangjing.”

Minghao just shakes his head. He gets Yanjun’s finished meal and leaves him alone in his room.

He may seem that like he questions Yanjun’s suggestion, but deep inside he’s considering it… if Chengcheng doesn’t mind.

_One more friend doesn’t hurt, right?_

  

_To: Fan Chengcheng_

_(09:26am) Hey, I was wondering if we could spend some time together around Yuehua, since we both study in the same major and all._

_(09:27am) I mean, if it’s fine with you. It’s fine if you’re not alright with it._

_(09:27am) I apologize though if I seem like invading your personal space._

 

Chengcheng looks at his phone and sees Minghao’s messages. He doesn’t know if he should spend time with him _(although he’s starting to lean on the fine side)_ , so he consults Zhangjing about it.

“Why not,” Zhangjing says after listening to Chengcheng’s concern. “I mean, you’ve already broken your walls with him in a way. What’s concerning you?”

Chengcheng sighs. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m ready to face other people.”

Zhangjing chuckles. “But you’ve met him already. A few more times wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“A few more times, until it becomes almost every day,” Chengcheng retorts. “You have a point though, I’ve met him already. And like what you said, I already broke walls with him. I’m still conflicted though.”

“If you’re not ready, you can decline him. He’s fine if you accept his request, he’s also fine if you don’t. Besides, you already messaged him last night! I didn’t even bother texting Yanjun, I might scare him away if I do.”

Chengcheng smiles. “You’re right, I’ve made the first move last night by texting him. Maybe I should consider this.”

Zhangjing pats him. “You should, really.”

 

_To: Huang Minghao_

_(09:37am) Hey, I guess I’m okay meeting with you when I have my free time._

**_(09:38am) Great, maybe we can study together as well if you like. Just let me know when you’re free._ **

_(09:39am) Let me know if you’re free too. :) See you around then?_

**_(09:39am) See you around campus!_ **

 

* * *

****

A loud and short ringing sound spreads through Yanjun’s office. His officemates start heading out the office while he still shuts down his personal computer. “Meeting later after the break, I’m expecting to see you there,” Yanjun’s boss says as he approaches his table. Yanjun only nods and leaves the office right after.

He has two hours to spare before coming to the meeting, but he doesn’t know what to eat other than the food from their cafeteria.

Suddenly, Café Banana pops into his mind. _‘Aha,’_ Yanjun says to himself and walks to the café that is a street away from his office.

He reaches the café after two minutes. He opens the café door and sees the bright yellow aesthetic that matches the light wood textures the majority of the café has. He also smells the fruity banana scent around him. Well, it is Café _Banana_ in the first place.

He also notices a familiar figure, a petite guy with slightly ruffled hair. He is placing fresh pastries in front of the counter for the customers to see.

“Hello, welcome to Café Banana, how may we help you,” Chaoze, the co-owner of the café, greets him.

“It’s my first time eating here,” Yanjun explains. “Could you suggest me some of your best sellers?”

“Okay, I’ll let Zhangjing help you—wait, you’re familiar,” Chaoze says after looking at Yanjun properly. “Are you Lin Yanjun?” He asks.

“Well, I am Lin Yanjun. What about it?”

Chaoze claps his hands in amusement. “Ah, Zhangjing told me you might visit the café soon! I didn’t expect it to be this _soon_ though,” he shares.

“I have a two hour break to spare so I decided to come here,” Yanjun says. “Zhangjing’s here, right?”

“He’s here, do you want me to call him?”

Yanjun smiles. “Sure, please call him. Besides, you were going to call Zhangjing in the first place.”

Chaoze chuckles. “Right. Let me call him to help you out then.”

Chaoze leaves Yanjun and calls Zhangjing who just finished placing the fresh pastries in front of the counter. Yanjun sees Chaoze talking something to Zhangjing, to which makes the latter look at him in surprise. He waves a little to Zhangjing and smiles. That makes Zhangjing melt _a little_ inside. Soon enough, Zhangjing approaches Yanjun who is still in front of the counter.

“Hey,” Zhangjing shyly calls him. “You didn’t tell me you were coming here.”

Yanjun chuckles. “I was going to visit casually. I’m just lucky that I see you here at this hour.”

Zhangjing tries his best not to stutter. “Since you’re here, might as well I treat you. Come on, sit somewhere you’ll be comfortable. I’ll come back with your food and drink.”

Yanjun nods and looks for a seat. He sits near the window (one of his favorite places inside a food place) and gets his phone from his pocket to check any new messages from his boss (he’s glad there’s none). Once he’s done checking, he just observes the beautiful café interior.

After a few minutes, Zhangjing reappears with two different kinds of bread and two different drinks. Yanjun waves at him in case he doesn’t see him. Zhangjing finally approaches Yanjun’s table after getting confused for a short while.

“Have a nice meal,” Zhangjing says as he places their food on the table. “That’s our specialty banana bread and croissant, and two banana smoothies for the both of us. I’m not sure if you like coffee so I got those drinks instead.”

“It’s okay,” Yanjun says as he looks at the food. “These look delicious.”

“Of course they are,” Zhangjing proudly says. “I made the recipes for those.”

Yanjun doesn’t say anything else and dives in for the food straight away. He takes one bite at each bread and finds them really tasty. He likes how the banana bread isn’t too sweet but isn’t too bland either. He actually prefers it more than the croissant. After taking bites, he drinks from his smoothie. He’s surprised at how balanced the banana and milk flavors are in the drink. He likes it a lot. He doesn’t say anything to Zhangjing, but he thinks his expressions explain better. He continues eating, not looking at Zhangjing one bit.

 _Zhangjing watches all of this._ In fact, he doesn’t even speak a word. He just observes Yanjun’s reactions to the food he served (and that made him happy). He finds Yanjun’s gently surprised expressions cute. No, he actually finds Yanjun _cute_ as a whole.

He remembers how Yanjun looks like when he was young: slightly chubby face, but the sharp features are there. He doesn’t smile a lot, but when he does it gives him butterflies in his stomach. Yanjun has always had that impact to Zhangjing when they were young, even until now.

“I’m glad I’m not melting yet,” Yanjun jokes after finishing his banana bread. “Are you alright? You’re spacing out.”

Zhangjing snaps out of his daydream and shakes his head. He suddenly thinks of something, _probably stupid_ , but he still wants to have a go at it.

“I was thinking of something,” Zhangjing slowly tells him. “I need some advice with this one though.”

“Well, I help Minghao a lot with his problems,” Yanjun shares. “What is it about?”

Zhangjing gets shy but continues. “You see, I have this friend and he needs advice with something I have no experience with. He has this childhood crush who he met recently again. Unfortunately, his crush doesn’t remember anything related to his past. Should my friend tell his crush that they were childhood friends? Or confess that he was his childhood crush?”

Yanjun, being clueless, chuckles. “Maybe your friend can ask his childhood crush if he remembers anything from his childhood, then introduce himself as his childhood friend. I think your friend’s childhood crush might have a heart attack if he confesses,” he suggests.

Zhangjing softly laughs, realizing how _stupid_ he is to ask Yanjun, his childhood crush, about his dilemma.

“Oh, maybe I could practice it with you for my friend. So I can tell him how it feels when he does it to his childhood crush.” Zhangjing dumbly suggests.

_Chengcheng’s definitely going to hit you when you come home, Zhangjing._

Yanjun starts to get confused. He doesn’t know why Zhangjing is doing this, but he seems like he needs help so he agrees. “Okay, I guess we can practice.”

Zhangjing leaves the table and goes near the door, while Yanjun continues eating his food. Zhangjing wants to hit himself, but he thinks that confessing to Yanjun will be easier since he’s practicing his _friend’s_ dilemma to his actual childhood crush.

“Hey, Yanjun,” Zhangjing softly calls the guy eating. He makes his way to the seat in front of Yanjun and asks, “I was wondering, do you remember anything about your childhood friends?”

Yanjun, getting into character, scratches his head and answers, “sorry, I can’t remember anything. Why?”

Zhangjing smiles, his eyes almost disappearing. “Do you remember me? I’m Chin, your childhood friend!”

_Chin._

They’re just pretending, but why does Yanjun feel that this is _real_? ‘Chin’ rings a bell to Yanjun’s mind. He tries to recall where he heard that word in the past (aside from the body part). He can’t remember anything called ‘Chin’.

 _‘Is my mind playing with me?’_ he asks himself.

He awkwardly smiles and says, “sorry, I can’t remember anything, Chin.”

“You can’t? You were called Evan back then!” Zhangjing insists.

Silence surrounds the both of them after.

That’s when Zhangjing realizes that he’s _not_ supposed to say that. He’s not supposed to say that Yanjun was called ‘Evan’ when he was young.

That’s when Yanjun realized that his childhood nickname was ‘Evan’. He was called ‘Evan’ by all his friends before, how come Zhangjing knows it?

 _‘Shut it, Yanjun. You’re not the only ‘Evan’ in the world,’_ he reminds himself.

“Is your friend’s childhood crush named ‘Evan’?” Yanjun cautiously asks.

Zhangjing smiles awkwardly. “Yeah, he said his childhood crush is called ‘Evan’. Anyway, I need to go to the washroom, if you don’t mind.”

Yanjun nods, which cues Zhangjing to leave faster than the speed of light. He continues to finish his smoothie, until he realizes that he only has a few minutes left before his meeting with his boss.

Zhangjing is still in the washroom, regretting every single thing he has done after giving Yanjun’s food. He’s definitely going to get hit by Chengcheng tonight. After realizing the gravity of what he did, he washes his face and comes back to where Yanjun is, only to find out that he’s about to leave the café.

“Hey, sorry I have to leave soon,” Yanjun says while heading for the door. “I have a meeting soon and I can’t be late.”

Zhangjing smiles. “It’s alright, we’ll see each other soon.”

“I can’t wait to see you then. I’m leaving now,” Yanjun says before going out, leaving Zhangjing embarrassed of what he has done today.

On contrary, Yanjun thinks that Zhangjing is funny… and cute… and adorable.

 

* * *

 

Minghao’s three hour break has started. The first thing he does is to go to the Broadcasting building’s auditorium. He’s waiting for someone, a person he asked recently if they could hang out around Yuehua during their breaks.

He arrives at the auditorium and sees the person he’s going to hang out with, Chengcheng.

“Hey,” Minghao greets Chengcheng who is waiting by the door. “I’m glad you were okay with hanging out with me.”

Chengcheng sheepishly smiles. “It’s fine, I wanted to hang out with you as well.”

“So, what do you want to do? Do you have anything in mind?” Minghao asks him.

“Not much actually,” Chengcheng truthfully answers. “Is it fine if we go to the library?”

Minghao smiles. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

Minghao and Chengcheng walk together towards the building’s library without a word. Minghao has been wanting to open up a topic, but what? He doesn’t know what Chengcheng likes to do, or how Chengcheng does at Yuehua (aside from not talking to people). Sure, he can ask him, but he doesn’t know if Chengcheng’s comfortable enough to answer his questions.

Chengcheng feels the same. He wants to talk to Minghao about anything, whether is about their academics or about his future activities in his channel, but he doesn’t manage to open his mouth and talk. His usual aloof self is kicking in, and it’s weird for him because he actually laughed loudly when he first met Minghao. He thoughts he would be comfortable with him the next time they meet, but jokes on him because he’s still awkward as he always is.

They reach the library, still without a word. Minghao doesn’t go to the library often, so Chengcheng leads the way inside the library. They sit at the back part of the library near the books, Minghao sitting beside Chengcheng.

They still fall silent though. Chengcheng starts to study while Minghao checks his phone until he eventually studies as well. They do their assignments in their respective subjects, sometimes asking questions to each other when one doesn’t understand a concept they’re studying about.

They have been like this for a while, until Chengcheng notices how Minghao manages to stick with him for the time being. He expects Minghao to be noisy and irritate him with his non-stop talking, but the opposite has been happening and it honestly _scares_ him.

_And makes him at peace at the same time._

He doesn’t expect Minghao to keep up with him at all, actually. He thinks that the dinner was a one time thing, that his follow up text after the dinner was only out of courtesy. But then again, they’re bound to meet soon at Minghao’s apartment, and he realizes that _maybe_ he wants to be friends with him.

No, he actually wants to be friends with him. It’s been a while since someone dealt with his aloof self pretty well, Zhangjing being the last person to do so.

“I thought you were going to leave,” Chengcheng blurts this out of the blue, which catches Minghao’s attention.

“Me, leaving you? Why would I?” Minghao asks.

Chengcheng hesitantly says, “we’re like… total opposites. You’re the kind that talks to everyone, and I’m the type that doesn’t even want to talk unless I feel comfortable enough. I thought you would be bored of me while I study.”

Minghao smiles and shakes his head. “Why would I leave you when I was the one who wanted to hang out with you?” _‘I wanted to hang out with you too.’_ “Like you said, you’re the type of person that doesn’t talk if you’re not comfortable. I’m just letting you be yourself. You don’t need to rush if you don’t feel like talking to me.”

For some reason, Chengcheng feels a sense of _security_ with Minghao’s words. He feels like Minghao knows him before even if they’ve met only a few days ago. Zhangjing might be right, there must be something special with Minghao that makes him feel certain emotions he doesn’t really feel as much.

Does he want to find out about that? Maybe.

Chengcheng shyly speaks. “Thank you for keeping up with me despite my aloof aura. I didn’t really expect you to be like this… being patient with me.”

“Thank you for not pushing me away as well,” Minghao jokes, which makes Chengcheng laugh _again_.

It always amazes Minghao how he could make Chengcheng laugh. He’s normally like this, asking and saying things innocently, but there must be some magic within his words that makes Chengcheng laugh. He wants to look for that _magic_ , but at the same time he doesn’t think it exists.

“You know what, let’s go somewhere else,” Chengcheng says after closing the book he’s currently reading.

They both go out of the library and head somewhere out of the Broadcasting building. Minghao has gone to a few other buildings in Yuehua, but he hasn’t explored the whole college as a whole. On the other hand, Chengcheng knows where they’re going.

They continue walking, not minding the people looking at them. A lot of Yuehua students know that Chengcheng is a famous YouTuber, however what made them look at him is the person Chengcheng’s with. It’s not necessarily Minghao, but it’s because Chengcheng is with someone. They _know_ how Chengcheng is with other people.

Soon enough, they reach a place Minghao has never gone before in his whole college life. They’re now walking towards the Music Conservatory, a building rarely visited if you’re not a Music student.

“I’ve never been here,” Minghao tells Chengcheng while they continue walking.

“Oh, we’re not going there,” Chengcheng replies.

“Then where?”

Chengcheng doesn’t say a word and suddenly pulls Minghao’s hand. It felt _right_ for him. Minghao doesn’t complain, letting himself get dragged to some place he’s sure he hasn’t gone to.

They finally stop after hiking a hill behind the music conservatory. Minghao is surprised and mesmerized at the same time. He sees the whole college below him, realizing that he hasn’t gone to a lot of places in Yuehua. He also sees the scenic landscape, with all the trees and the small houses a little further away.

“This is beautiful,” Minghao says in awe.

Chengcheng smiles, this time a wider smile where his eyes almost disappear and his teeth shining brighter than usual. “I’m glad you like it. It’s my hideout actually. Ever since someone from the conservatory saw me here, no one bothered going to this hill. I feel bad though, I didn’t mean to shove away those who want to come here.”

Minghao pats his back. “It’s alright, at least you have the hill to yourself.”

“Right.”

They both sit down on top of the hill and observe the scenery around them, thinking how beautiful the trees and buildings mix together below together with the bright blue sky and clouds above. They feel that they went to the hill at the perfect time of the day. It is a little bit warm for them as the sun shines almost directly at him, but the breeze makes the warmth tolerable.

Chengcheng suddenly lies down to look at the clouds more. Minghao looks at him and smiles. He smiles back.

They fall silent for a while, until Chengcheng suddenly speaks about a sensitive topic. “You know, I had a rebellion phase before.”

“H-hey,” Minghao stutters. “Why are you telling this to me?”

“I don’t know,” Chengcheng answers him. “I just feel… safe with you.”

Minghao lowers his head and chuckles. “Why would you say that?”

Chengcheng sits again and looks at him. “I don’t know, but I feel a sense of security when I’m with you.”

Minghao looks away, feeling shy at the words Chengcheng uttered. He suddenly feels butterflies in his stomach, which is weird. He’s touched, but at the same time he feels this unexplainable feeling he never felt before.

“G-go on, I guess,” Minghao shyly says, still not looking at Chengcheng.

Chengcheng feels that Minghao might be uncomfortable, so he sits against Minghao’s back and tells his story.

“You know those parents who want their child to be perfect in every aspect they could possible be? I happened to have those parents. It was fine at first. I was able to juggle my academics with so many extracurricular activities. I was also able to exercise so I could have the body figure my parents wanted. Everything was bearable for me, because I wanted my parents to be happy.

“I wanted them to be happy, but I realized I wasn’t making myself happy. I once saw my friends having fun hanging out and playing outside. I asked myself, ‘why am I suddenly so sad?’ That was the time I was so conflicted. I was busy making my parents proud and happy for me to the point where I wasn’t making myself happy anymore. I felt so sick, as if I was caged in my own restrictions.

“My parents continued to make me do things I wasn’t happy doing, until I got fed up and left the house without a word. I had some friends that lived in an apartment and some pocket money to spare, so I decided to stay at their apartment for a while. I continued to go to school normally, until my parents started bugging the school so that they could talk to me. I wasn’t ready to meet them, so I started skipping class. That’s where I started developing my stress eating habits since I went to different food stalls to eat. Eventually, I got sick and was brought to the hospital.

“The news of me being hospitalized reached my parents, so they eventually found me. I gave up on escaping from them and realized that I should settle things with them. I realized what I did was wrong, I should’ve explained myself better in the first place. But it’s all in the past now since we’ve talked about everything when I was still hospitalized.”

Minghao didn’t interrupt Chengcheng while he was speaking. He didn’t want Chengcheng to be irritated with him just because he had so many questions. He wanted to listen to Chengcheng fully, because he felt like Chengcheng _trusts_ him so much and in return he has to keep his secret safe.

Minghao speaks again when he finally recovers. “I-I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that. I’m glad that you’re better now.”

“It’s alright. It’s all in the past now,” Chengcheng assures him.

Minghao hesitates to ask something, but he goes for it anyway. “I wanted to ask, does that phase connect to why you don’t get close to people easily?”

Chengcheng nods. “When I was in that phase, a lot of people bullied me. They bullied me because of my attitude or because of my family. It was fine at first, there were people who were still willing to be my side despite everything I was facing back then, not until my best friend betrayed me. All of the things I vented out to him just spread to our batch like wildfire. Everyone started to judge me more, and I felt that was the last straw. Since then, I didn’t trust anyone other than my family. Well, not until I met Zhangjing. It took time for me to open up to him, but he took care of me very well that I felt secured with him.”

“Why did it took me a short time then?” Minghao asks.

Chengcheng only smiles.

Minghao knows (for some reason) that he won’t get an answer, so he looks at his phone instead and sees that they only have a few minutes remaining before their break is over. He tells this to Chengcheng, so they both stand up and start walking back to the Broadcasting building.

The walk back to their building is silent (as usual), but more comforting than usual. They don’t feel the need to talk, but they know that they’re walking together and that’s enough for them.

They reach the Broadcasting building a few minutes after, and none of them want to part ways with each other.

“I-I can’t wait for us to meet again,” Chengcheng shyly says.

Minghao chuckles. “Come on, you can text me anytime! We can meet around here, okay?”

“Okay. See you soon then.”

“See you sooner.”

They both part ways and go to their respective classes, both starting to feel much more comfortable with each other’s presence.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chengcheng and Minghao spend more time together. Yanjun and Zhangjing have a heated debate over Zhangjing's (Yanjun's context: his friend's) dilemma. Chengcheng knocks some sense into Zhangjing. And lastly, Yanjun remembers something _important_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok sorry no update for a month, had to fix university papers + had a writing break so i hope you guys understand! :) also, happy 1k hits and 100 kudos! ok i didn't expect much for this story but i can't believe this??? i did post a lengthy message over twitter but it's been buried now so i just want to thank EVERYONE who gave this story a chance!! i'll try my best to not disappoint with what's gonna happen in the future ^^
> 
> but for one: this is definitely not the best i could bring write. BUT SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN. so here it is.
> 
> enjoy everyone!! lmk how you feel through the comments or through [twitter](https://twitter.com/zhenqruibin)! (yes i did change my @)
> 
> OKAY LEZZGEDDIT

Minghao, who is heading for his next class, checks his phone for messages and sees one from his professor saying that he has to attend to an emergency, making his next class a free cut. He takes a deep breath and decided to head for the library.

He doesn’t really go inside libraries, but he finds it _comfortable_ after he went with Chengcheng when they last spent time together.

The thought of Chengcheng makes him smile, surprisingly. He feels honored that Chengcheng trusts him with things he doesn’t normally open up to others. He definitely must have done something else other than making Chengcheng laugh like there’s no tomorrow during their dinner.

He sits at the further end of the library, the seats in front of most books found inside. He takes the one near the window and starts rewriting his notes from his previous class.

An hour passes when someone moves the chair beside him. He takes a glance to see who it is and sees Chengcheng slowly opening his bag to get his readings.

“Oh, I thought you have class?” Chengcheng asks.

“I do,” Minghao answers, “but my professor had an emergency so it’s a free cut.”

Chengcheng nods and doesn’t bother Minghao further. They both resume in what they do, Chengcheng reads while Minghao rewrites notes. They stay like this for a little while, until Chengcheng finds his reading a little boring and stops reading it halfway. He suddenly looks at Minghao, observing how he writes his notes while listening to music in his phone. He notices the little details, how Minghao has cute handwriting and how he has to highlight important terms in his notes. He also notices Minghao’s shaking his head a little, it might be because of the song he’s listening to. He further examines his face, noticing how clear his skin is and how small his facial features are.

“Chengcheng, are you okay?”

Chengcheng stops with his trail of thought when Minghao waves his hand in front of Chengcheng’s face.

“S-sorry, I was thinking of something,” Chengcheng stutters.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Minghao asks.

“It’s nothing, I just got bored halfway with my reading. Don’t mind me.”

Minghao goes back to writing his notes, while Chengcheng continues to _adore_ Minghao’s face. Yes, he actually likes how petite Minghao’s face is.

He smiles.

Minghao closes the notebook he has been writing into and looks at Chengcheng with a questioning look.

“Seriously, is there anything wrong with me?” Minghao asks cautiously. “Is there anything wrong with my face? You’ve been looking at me for a while now.”

Chengcheng shakes his head. “I just like looking at you.”

Minghao suddenly looks at Chengcheng’s face closely, leaving only a small space in between their faces.

Chengcheng internally _freaks out_. He doesn’t show this to Minghao though.

“So how do you feel when I look at you like this?” Minghao asks Chengcheng, not breaking eye contact.

Minghao observes Chengcheng’s face this time. He notices how big Chengcheng’s eyes are, how his pupils shake lightly (probably in panic that Minghao is looking at him closely), how his face is actually glowing and could possibly replace the sun at any moment.

Chengcheng doesn’t break eye contact either. He looks at Minghao’s eyes deeply, noticing that his eyes are really beautiful.

A sudden wave of embarrassment hits them both, resulting to both of them breaking their eye contact and an awkward atmosphere.

And at that moment, Chengcheng felt his heart beating fast.

And Minghao slowly blushing, until he feels his cheeks having pinkish red shade.

“W-why did you do that?” Chengcheng tries to ask Minghao in a joking manner.

“I-I just did what you did to me!” Minghao answers defensively. “Why were you looking at me?!”

“I was… bored,” Chengcheng answers.

Minghao shakes his head, unsatisfied with the answer. He checks his phone to see that he only has few minutes left before his next class. “I’m going now,” he shyly tells Chengcheng.

“Okay, I’ll see you around next time? Or you know, let’s hang out again soon. I like hanging out with you.” Chengcheng replies.

Minghao gives him an awkward smile. “Yes, we’ll hang out soon,” he tells and leaves the library after.

Chengcheng remains in the library, still unsure of what happened earlier.

_I like hanging out with you._

_I like hanging out with you._

_I like_ —

Chengcheng can’t believe he said that sentence out loud to Minghao, as it was actually meant to be an internal thought.

_I like hanging out with you._

_I like hanging out with you._

_I like_ —

Minghao smiles at the thought of him hanging out with Chengcheng while he walks to his next class.

* * *

 

Yanjun always finds himself coming back to Café Banana after eating there for the first time. Chaoze always guides him through the menu, recommending what food is perfect to eat on that day and so on. Yanjun likes the food Chaoze recommends, but his favorite is still the banana bread he tried for the first time so he adds that to his order everytime. He also orders the banana milkshake, although he switches his drinks from time to time.

Zhangjing isn’t always at the café, so Yanjun asks him about his friend’s dilemma when he gets the chance to see him working. Zhangjing is pretty consistent with his answer, saying that his friend still has no progress talking to his childhood crush. Yanjun would sometimes give him advice, other times he would let Zhangjing (his friend rather) be.

Yanjun’s childhood memories slowly come back after his previous talk with Zhangjing. Aside from being called ‘Evan’’ by his friends, he slowly starts figuring out the guy that causes him headaches (literally, Minghao has to check on him now and then). He has a grasp of how the guy looks like: petite and slightly chubby build, very fair skin, heart-shaped lips, and big bright eyes. He remembers the guy calling him ‘Evan,’ however he still can’t remember how he calls this guy back.

Yanjun doesn’t have work during this particular day, but he decides to spend his day at Café Banana for the delicious food (and for Zhangjing as well). Minghao has classes, so spending the day alone at home is a little boring for him.

As if the gods heard his prayers, Yanjun sees Zhangjing in the café chilling on the sofa near the counter. Zhangjing sees him and waves.

Surprisingly, Zhangjing doesn’t freak out when Yanjun arrives. It must be because he’s getting used seeing him.

“What brings you here today?” Zhangjing asks, walking towards the counter to get Yanjun’s order. “Don’t you have work today?”

“It’s my day-off, but I’m still here for work,” he says as he shows his laptop bag. “Can I have the carbonara? And the usual banana milkshake.”

“Coming right up,” Zhangjing says after taking his order. “Let’s have lunch together then.”

Yanjun nods and looks for a seat afterwards. Zhangjing comes to his table a few minutes after, bringing their food for lunch. They start eating quietly, until Yanjun decides to bring up the dilemma of Zhangjing’s friend.

“So, how’s your friend? Did he tell his childhood crush already?” Yanjun asks before eating his carbonara.

“No, he hasn’t yet,” Zhangjing answers calmly.

“You know, if it’s not that serious, maybe your friend can tell that to him in a joking matter,” Yanjun suggests. “I mean, I don’t think it should be a big deal at all. Your friend should go for it lightly.”

Zhangjing’s expression suddenly changes from bright to a little defensive. “His childhood crush is a big deal, Yanjun. You don’t know how much he likes the guy. It’s like his only love for more than ten years now. I honestly can’t believe he can wait that long for his crush.”

“That’s not even a crush anymore,” Yanjun answers back. “That’s like… childhood love. If your friend really waited for that long, then he really must be special to your friend.”

“I know, he’s a big deal for my friend,” Zhangjing agrees.

“But your friend has to man up too,” Yanjun adds. “He can’t stay liking in silence forever, or else he’ll have no chance with his crush… or love.”

“It’s not that easy, Yanjun,” Zhangjing answers rather defensively. “You think my friend is ready for the heartbreak if his crush rejects him? You think he can handle the pain? It’s hard for him to man up because he can’t express himself well! Also, this is a big deal. You _know_ that.”

Yanjun takes a deep breath. “Why are you suddenly so defensive? Are you okay?”

Zhangjing doesn’t answer. He feels sorry for suddenly becoming defensive for his _friend_ . He doesn’t mean being rude, but he knows himself that Yanjun’s talking about his situation, not his _friend’s_ situation. He had every right to be defensive, Yanjun just doesn’t know that.

Yanjun suddenly becomes worried, so he decides to change the topic. “Remember the time when Chengcheng asked about our childhood memories? I have good news, I can slowly remember everything!”

Zhangjing… doesn’t like where this is going. “R-really?”

Yanjun smiles. “Yeah, I can remember most of the important people in my life, except for this one kid that literally gives me headaches.”

Zhangjing chuckles. “You really get a headache when you try to remember this kid?”

“Yup, I’m not joking! I used to have bad headaches and then memories about that kid flash in my mind. It’s sick! I still don’t remember his name though.”

“Is there anything you remember about that kid?”

Yanjun pauses for a while to think. “Well, this kid likes eating a lot, and he actually has a really great singing voice. He can sing well, I’ve heard him sing countless of times. Also, I do remember him calling with something. I can’t remember the full name, but I think it ends with ‘-in.’”

_-in. Chin._

Zhangjing panics internally. Yanjun will remember everything anytime soon. He has to admit everything to Yanjun anytime soon as well. He doesn’t feel good about this.

He’s _not_ ready for the things to come once Yanjun remembers him.

He looks at his watch, only to find that his break is over. ‘Saved by the bell, he thinks.

“I have to continue working now,” Zhangjing tells him. “Let me know over the counter if you need anything, okay?”

Yanjun just nods, and that cues Zhangjing to go back to work. Yanjun soon after brings out his laptop to do his own work.

_-in. Chin._

He remembers how Zhangjing called himself _Chin_ when he had the practice run with him before. Come to think of it, Zhangjing’s lips are similar to the kid’s lips. Zhangjing’s features are similar to the kid’s features. Zhangjing likes to eat food, just like the kid. Zhangjing also called him _Evan_ before.

There’s a huge possibility that Zhangjing is the kid Yanjun has been trying to remember.

Yanjun takes note of this possibility.

Yanjun finds the situation funny. It means that Zhangjing has been asking about him to him the whole time. He finds it hilarious, but he doesn’t want to have his hopes up. What if Zhangjing isn’t the child, right?

Yanjun looks at Zhangjing who is busy at the counter, the guy that is possibly the childhood friend he’s been trying to remember for a while now.

* * *

 

Chengcheng comes home from his class, seeing Zhangjing lying down in their couch. He sighs, comes closer to Zhangjing, and wakes him up.

"I'm not asleep," Zhangjing tells him, as if he asked.

"Then why are you like...that?"

"I'm just thinking about some things."

Chengcheng sits on the ottoman in front of Zhangjing and looks at him straight in the eyes. "You've been like this recently. Is everything okay?" Chengcheng asks worriedly.

Zhangjing sighs and sits properly. "I don't think I'm ready to face the gravity of my actions," he says in a low, serious tone.

Chengcheng slowly freaks out. "Oh no, did anything go wrong with Café Banana?"

"No, no, it's not about that. It's about _Yanjun_."

Chengcheng does a facepalm. "I thought it was something really serious," he says in relief. "What about him?"

Zhangjing sighs for the nth time now. "He's starting to get his memory back."

Chengcheng smiles, feeling delighted with the news. "Oh, that's nice! What's making you worried though?"

"I-I don't have that much time left to hide the truth from him."

Silence envelopes the both of them.

"Does he remember you already?" Chengcheng nervously asks.

"He doesn't completely remember, but he's getting there. He remembers a couple of things about _me_ , but he can't remember my name," Zhangjing answers truthfully. "I'm scared, what if he remembers anytime soon? Will that change anything with our friendship right now? I'm not sure if we'll end up being closer or not."

Chengcheng pauses for a while to think of an advice, until he remembers something that made him confused. "Wait, have you and Yanjun talked after the dinner?" He suspiciously asks.

Zhangjing's eyes becomes bigger than usual. 'Crap, I forgot he doesn't know we talk,' he says to himself. He takes a deep breath and starts talking about how Yanjun first came to Café Banana and how stupid he was to ask about his dilemma to Yanjun himself, how Yanjun comes back to the café and asks about how his (in Yanjun's context: his friend's) dilemma is going, and how Yanjun told him recently that his memory is slowly coming back.

Chengcheng hits Zhangjing after he talks.

"What was that for?" Zhangjing asks while massaging his head.

"I can't believe you actually asked advice from him," Chengcheng answers. "And to add, you even _indirectly_ told him about it. You were almost there already, what held you back?"

Zhangjing pauses.

_What held you back?_

Chengcheng has a point there. Zhangjing already had a _dry run_ in front of Yanjun. He already told him what needed to be told, it was just a matter of changing pronouns here and there.

"I-I can't tell it to him directly," Zhangjing answers thoughtlessly.

Chengcheng pats him at the back. "Yanjun's right, you have to man up already. I don't think Yanjun will mind."

"Yanjun won't mind? I don't think so."

"Well, he won't mind if you tell it to him in a joking manner. He said that himself, right?"

Chengcheng is right, Yanjun won't mind if he _jokingly_ tells him about it.

Though he gets the point, Zhangjing decides to change the topic. "So, how are you and Minghao?"

"We're okay," Chengcheng tells casually. "We hang out sometimes."

"You like him?" Zhangjing asks without batting an eyelash.

Chengcheng smiles. "I guess I do."

Zhangjing freaks out, almost screaming in their apartment. "You really like him?"

Chengcheng laughs. "I like him as a friend, not the kind of liking you're thinking about."

Zhangjing smiles meaningfully. "You know, they all say they like someone as a friend. You never know what's going to happen next."

"I'm just happy that we're in good terms," Chengcheng shares, "or how we're spending time together in Yuehua sometimes."

Zhangjing pats him on his head. "I'm glad Minghao has this positive effect on you."

"I'm glad too, Zhangjing. It feels like I'm seeing sunlight again after staying long in the dark."

"Don't you think he's your own sun?"

Chengcheng shyly smiles. "Perhaps he actually is. I don't know, but I like being with him a lot."

"I'm glad you found a friend other than me. I hope you treasure him for a long time."

Chengcheng only smiles.

* * *

 

_Yanjun has been walking for about an hour now._

_He’s walking with a kid, probably around the same age as him. They have been hiking this mountain for a while now, and Yanjun doesn’t seem to stop any time soon._

_“Hey, Evan, can we please stop? My legs are starting to hurt already,” the kid asks._

_“Just a little bit longer, Chin,” Yanjun says. “We’re almost at the top of the mountain.”_

_“Why do you want to take me here anyway?” Chin, the kid, asks back._

_Yanjun doesn’t answer and continues to hike the mountain. Chin is a bit slow, so he tries to catch up with Yanjun. Unfortunately, Chin trips. Yanjun feels this and helps Chin fix himself. He holds Chin’s hand and continue hiking._

_“Why are you doing this, Evan?” Chin asks again._

_“This feels right,” Yanjun answers him._

_“What feels right? Me tripping countless of times while hiking this mountain? You know I don’t do this stuff, right?”_

_Yanjun stops in front of a view he doesn’t expect he’ll see while he’s young._

_The scenery screams perfection. Yanjun and Chin can see the sunset from their place. They can also see the little houses below, all glowing thanks to the sun setting. They can also see the different trees and other mountains around all the houses._

_“Evan, this is so beautiful,” Chin tells him as he stares at the breathtaking view. “Why did you bring me here?”_

_Yanjun takes a deep breath and takes out a sunflower he cut from his mother’s garden. He gives to Chin, which still looks surprised at where Yanjun took him._

_Chin doesn’t know how to react to all of this._

_“This sound childish, I mean we’re still kids, but I saw my mom’s sunflower garden in full bloom this morning so I decided to grab one sunflower without her catching,” Yanjun shares._

_“But why are you doing this, Evan? It’s not like something extravagant happened recently,” Chin wonders._

_“I don’t know if I could do this again in the future, but I wanted to tell you that I really like you,” Yanjun says without taking any breaks._

_Chin freezes at what he hears. Yanjun takes this opportunity to continue._

_“You’re really special to me, Chin. I know I’m childish, but I don’t think I can live without you. You’ve always been my happy pill ever since we’ve met, and you always make my day through your antics. I feel like I’m on top of the world when I’m with you.”_

_Before Chin can react, the scene suddenly shifts to somewhere familiar: Café Banana._

_Yanjun wonders what happened, until he sees that Zhangjing is standing in front of him._

_“Z-Zhangjing?” Yanjun asks._

_And before Zhangjing can answer, the scene shifts back to the scenic view on top of the mountain._

_And back again to Café Banana._

_And then back again to the scenic view._

_But two things don’t change: he and the guy that’s standing in front of him._

 

“Zhangjing?!” Yanjun questions rather scandalously.

“Yanjun, what’s wrong?” Minghao asks, rushing from his room. “It’s late already, did anything happen wrong?”

“N-no,” Yanjun answers, “it’s about my memories.”

Minghao nervously sits down on his bed. “Did you remember anything new?”

“Minghao, the kid,” Yanjun answers slowly, “the kid I’ve been always trying to remember, Chin, it’s Zhangjing.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yanjun briefly talks about remembering Zhangjing (or Chin) to Minghao, that eventually reaches to Chengcheng. Yanjun comes back to Café Banana after a while, but Zhangjing doesn't like the shift in Yanjun's attitude. Chengcheng gives Zhangjing advice, although Zhangjing doesn't seem to be positive with it either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a while now! i think it's safe to say that updates pop up here and there depending on how busy i am and so on. it's a bit shorter than usual, but all i can say is, we have zhangjun progress (a bit, but still a progress). kudos and comments are very well appreciated! <3 talk to me too on [twitter](https://twitter.com/zhenqruibin) ^^

Yanjun can’t believe his hunch is right.

He started having a feeling that he and Zhangjing might be connected ever since Zhangjing asked about his friend’s dilemma. Yanjun isn’t that  _ dumb _ to not have a feeling that Zhangjing was covering up himself. He just let Zhangjing be until everything seems to make sense.

He isn’t that dumb either to not patch up the headaches that happen to him.

He writes down what happens to his headaches in a notebook for reference, so he remembers that  _ Chin _ likes to sing and eat. He remembers that his old friends call him ‘Evan’ through those notes.

Yanjun doesn’t mind with the things he remembers. He accepts all he remembers with open arms, whether it’s a good memory or an embarrassing one.

What doesn’t add up though, is the fact that he confessed to Zhangjing before.

“What? Yanjun, are you sure?” Minghao asks, trying his best not to show how  _ shocked _ he is.

“I’m sure,” Yanjun answers. “No wonder ‘Evan’ slipped out of his mouth before.”

Minghao nods and lets everything he hears sink in.

“What I want to know is,” Yanjun pauses to make sure he’s saying the right thing, “is it possible for forgotten feelings to come back too?”

“YANJUN ARE YOU SERIOUS?” Minghao screams. “YOU LIKED ZHANGJING BEFORE?”

“I can’t believe it either,” Yanjun says in disbelief. “My dream just showed up me confessing to Zhangjing, or Chin in that case.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m shaking right now,” Minghao says as he shows his shaking hand to Yanjun. “I can’t believe this is happening right now.”

“Me neither. I don’t even know what to do with this information.”

Silence envelopes the two of them. No one can process the fact that Yanjun and Zhangjing have met before, not to mention that Yanjun liked Zhangjing in the past.

“It’s funny though, we’ve been watching Zhangjing and Chengcheng for a few years now but you didn’t feel anything weird until recently,” Minghao speaks. “Is it because you’ve only met recently again?”

Minghao is right. They’ve been watching ‘You/r Fan Eats’ for a long time now, but Yanjun never had any headaches nor had any memory coming back to him.

“You’re right,” Yanjun finally says. “My headaches only started when we had dinner with them.”

“What are you going to do now that you’ve finally regained your memory back?” Minghao asks out of curiosity.

Yanjun has no answer to give.

“You don’t need to answer right now obviously,” Minghao says before Yanjun can even say anything. “I was just asking you because you can’t hide from Zhangjing forever. He’ll eventually know that you already know.”

Yanjun wants to say something, but he doesn’t think Minghao will understand.

He doesn’t know if his feelings for Zhangjing will ever come back. Feelings  _ don’t _ come back, only memories do. Heck, he knows himself that Zhangjing wants to confess to his childhood crush that he likes him.

He disregards the idea of Zhangjing confessing to him, even if he clearly knows that Zhangjing wants to confess to him because of that  _ one name slip _ .

* * *

 

“I’m frustrated! Can Yanjun just tell Zhangjing that he already remembers his memory of them together so we can all live a happy life?” Minghao asks to the scenic view from the hill beside the music conservatory.

“Wait, what? Yanjun already remembers his memories?” Chengcheng asks in shock.

Minghao sighs. “Yes, he does. Yanjun confessed to Zhangjing when they were kids. I don’t know what happened next though. He didn’t tell me.”

Chengcheng panics. He knows that Zhangjing still has a hard time telling Yanjun about it. He doesn’t know how Zhangjing will react to this, but he knows that Zhangjing’s time to hide is up.

_ Zhangjing has to tell Yanjun how he feels. _

“W-what is Yanjun going to do now?” Chengcheng nervously asks.

“I don’t know, we never talked about that again,” Minghao shares. “I’m really nervous though, sometimes Yanjun doesn’t think rationally and messes up.”

“Zhangjing’s definitely going to freak out once I tell him this,” Chengcheng says in disbelief. “He even asked advice from Yanjun about confessing, but he hasn’t done that properly! He only did a test one time Yanjun was in his café!”

“Wait… so you guys know Yanjun all this time?” Minghao asks.

“Shit,” Chengcheng mutters. “Yeah, we do. Zhangjing has been gaga over him for like ages now. It’s weird though, Zhangjing never mentioned to me before that Yanjun confessed to him.”

They both look at each other in confusion. Oh, this is getting  _ messier _ .

“Let’s try to patch things together,” Minghao says after taking a breath. “Yanjun has confessed to Zhangjing before, but Zhangjing never mentioned to you once about it. Zhangjing only mentions him confessing to Yanjun, but never actually does it. Do you know what’s holding him back?”

“I asked him the same question, but he never really answered me either.”

“Maybe you should ask again,” Minghao suggests. “Also, you can add up the memory of Yanjun confessing to him. I feel like he knows but never really mentions you.”

“You’re pretty smart, huh,” Chengcheng compliments him.

Minghao lowkey feels butterflies in his stomach with the compliment.

“I was wondering, when are you guys going to our apartment? I remember you told us you’ll come from our dinner,” Minghao changes topic.

“Oh,” Chengcheng says after he remembers. “Thanks for bringing it up again! We should talk about it one of these days. I’m going to consult Zhangjing first with our schedule. You should go consult Yanjun with his schedule.”

“That’s great! I can’t wait to hang out with you guys more.”

“You mean hang out with me more,” Chengcheng says without thinking.

“Shut it!” Minghao says as he feels his cheeks turning into a soft pink shade. “I meant all of us together, okay?”

“I was just joking!” Chengcheng retorts, though he hopes that Minghao wants to spend time with him more.

* * *

 

The usual fruity banana scent welcomes Yanjun as he enters Caf é Banana.

“It’s great to be back,” Yanjun says as he heads for the counter.

A new worker shows up, much to Yanjun’s surprise. “Hello, I’m Dinghao and I’m the newly assigned cashier. May I take your order?”

“Where’s Chaoze and Zhangjing?” He asks instead of placing his order.

“Oh, they went out for a while to settle some business. They’ll be back in a while, sir,” Dinghao answers him with a smile. “Would you like to eat something while waiting?”

Yanjun scans the menu behind Dinghao. “I would like to have your carbonara and banana milkshake. That would be all.”

“One carbonara and milkshake coming right up! I’ll let Chaoze and Zhangjing know you’re here once they come back.”

“Ah, no,” Yanjun hesitates. “I mean, just tell Zhangjing that I’m here.”

Dinghao nods and proceeds to prepare Yanjun’s meal, while Yanjun goes to his usual spot by the window.

Twenty minutes have passed since Yanjun started to play with his phone. He is about to call Dinghao and ask them if they’re still taking long (because Yanjun has to go back to work too), when someone sat at the seat in front of him.

“H-hi,” Zhangjing stutters while greeting. “It’s been a while since you’re here.”

Yanjuns plans to be normal when talking to Zhangjing, but the awkward greeting starts giving awkward air to both of them. “H-hi, I had to focus on work a little bit more,” Yanjun greets back.

_ Lies. _ Yanjun didn’t come back to the caf é when he knew the truth. It was painful for him to buy food from the convenience store near his office, but he needed time to think about what he’ll do when he meets Zhangjing again. He didn’t want Zhangjing to know that he  _ knows _ about what happened to them. He didn’t want to sacrifice their growing friendship just because of a confusing memory.

Zhangjing wants to slap himself for the awkward greeting. He was grateful not to meet Yanjun for a while, but he knows he can’t escape him for a long time.

He internally breathes and tries to clear the awkward air. “How it’s going? Is your boss nice? Is he giving you too much load? Does your work stress you?”

Yanjun chuckles. “I see that you’re worried, huh. Don’t worry, everything is going fine. My boss is nice and he doesn’t give workload we can’t handle. Work doesn’t stress me as much either, thank you very much.”

Zhangjing wants to slap himself again.

“No, I’m worried our loyal customer might have found another café to have lunch with!” Zhangjing tries to explain himself. “I’m not that w-worried…”

Yanjun smiles at him. “Don’t worry, why would I leave my favorite café and my favorite YouTuber?”

Zhangjing can feel his cheeks getting warm. “Stop it!” He says as he slaps Yanjun’s shoulder.

“Why? Is it bad to give a compliment?” Yanjun playfully asks.

“No, it’s not that!” Zhangjing insists. “It’s…it’s…I’m not used with compliments when they’re being said in person!”

Yanjun buys his explanation and diverts the topic. “So, how is the dilemma of your friend? Is he still having a hard time talking about it to his crush?”

Zhangjing has nothing to answer.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to answer,” Yanjun takes it back as soon as he notices Zhangjing spacing out. “I was just curious since it’s been a while since I talked to you. I don’t think I also have the right to ask inside scoop about your friend either.”

Zhangjing is bewildered.  _ What the hell? _

“I should probably ask more about you, don’t you think? You know, since we’re friends,” Yanjun changes topic again. Zhangjing absentmindedly nods. “How’s the café going? I heard you have new workers, since one greeted me at the cashier earlier.”

“Ah, yes!” Zhangjing exclaims in relief. “You’ve met Dinghao earlier, I see. He’s the cashier during our lunch shift. There are two other new workers joining him by the end of the week since they’re working students.”

“Oh, I see. Then I should probably go this weekend to meet them.”

Zhangjing becomes suspicious. “Say, are you interested in our employees? Do you want a date or something?”

“If I said I wanted to have a date with you, will it be okay with you?” Yanjun asks with a killer smile at the end.

Zhangjing has  _ never ever _ wanted to disappear from Earth until this moment. He wants to hit Yanjun for that remark, or just throw a simple retort to him, but he can’t even function what Yanjun has said a few seconds ago.

Yanjun smirks when he sees Zhangjing  _ malfunctioning _ . “I’m just kidding,” he says. “I just want to meet your new employees. The more I know, the merrier, right?”

“Y-yeah…” Zhangjing trails off. “You can visit during the weekend, no one is stopping you.”

“Well, I won’t go if you stop me.”

Zhangjing doesn’t know what or how to react.  _ ‘Why is he suddenly being playful?’ _ He asks himself.

“Yanjun, you’re the customer. You can freely visit the café at anytime, with or without letting me know,” Zhangjing tells him. “I’ll go back to work now. You probably have to go back soon as well.”

Zhangjing leaves without a word. He doesn’t know what else to say or to talk about. He’s suddenly confused at how Yanjun is treating him. He knows that something might have changed, he just doesn’t know what that change is.

He doesn’t feel peaceful anymore.

* * *

 

Zhangjing comes home to their apartment tired and uneasy, and Chengcheng notices this.

“Bad day?” Chengcheng asks as he opens their television. “You don’t seem… you.”

“Yanjun doesn’t seem to be himself either,” Zhangjing replies in a boring fashion. He sits besides Chengcheng and grabs the remote.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chengcheng asks carefully.

Zhangjing takes a deep breath and talks. “It’s been a while since he last visited the café, right? Well newsflash, he’s back again.”

“What’s wrong with th—”

“Don’t cut me off,” Zhangjing says in frustration. Chengcheng doesn’t say anything. “He’s back, and I’m 100% fine with that. He’s my regular customer. It puts me off that he suddenly changed, and I’m not sure if it’s for the good or the bad.”

Chengcheng sighs in frustration because he  _ knows _ what is up. As much as he wants to tell Zhangjing everything he knew from Minghao, he can’t. Minghao implicitly trusts him not to tell Zhangjing that Yanjun already remembers everything. He doesn’t want to “betray” Zhangjing, but he doesn’t want to break Minghao’s trust either.

“There are things I know, but I’m not allowed to tell,” Chengcheng starts. “But I can tell you this: you can be brave enough to talk to Yanjun about it. Maybe he’s just getting comfortable with you. You know those people who are awkward in the first few meetings but get comfortable at some point, right? Yanjun has probably adjusted to your wavelength already, so he’s starting to be more playful and such.”

Zhangjing turns off the television. “I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Then what do you think is the case?”

“He’s being flirty! He wants to meet my new staff, then I asked if he wants to date any of them. He asks if it’s okay with me if he asks me out but says he’s kidding right after!”

Chengcheng tries not to chuckle. He feels that this might be Yanjun’s way of approaching Zhangjing after he remembered everything.

Chengcheng pats his back. “You know, it doesn’t hurt to ask, right? You guys can talk when we meet at their apartment.”

“Y-yeah… maybe that will help,” Zhangjing says. “I don’t think I can do it, though.”

“You haven’t even tried talking about it. How can you say you can’t do it?”

Zhangjing doesn’t speak.

“Think about it, okay? Don’t be hasty,” Chengcheng says and goes to his room.

Zhangjing is left alone and confused, not being sure if he was able to comprehend what Chengcheng was trying to tell him.


End file.
